My Genealogy Hound

SEXTUS H. HUNGERFORD was born in Smithfield, Madison county, New York, January 14, 1806. When quite young he removed with his parents to Vernon, Oneida county. He was the eldest of nine children, and was about twenty-one when his father died, at which time the care of a small farm and a large family devolved upon him. In 1830 he was married to Maria P. Skinner, who survives him and now resides at Westfield. He continued in the farming business in Vernon until 1837, when he removed to Westfield and purchased of Joshua R. Babcock, and continued in the mercantile business about six years in connection with his brother-in-law, H. J. Miner, under the firm name of Hungerford & Miner. In 1843 he removed to Ripley on a farm, and after about two years returned to Westfield, where he resided until his death, May 15, 1867. In 1848 he established the bank of Westfield, of which he was president and John N. Hungerford, his brother, cashier. In 1864, he, with others, organized the First National Bank of Westfield. During the late war Mr. Hungerford was untiring in his efforts to sustain the government, and devoted much time gratuitously furnishing men and means. By the policy suggested by him the town of Westfield escaped the pressure of a heavy war debt. In 1865 he represented the assembly district in the Legislature, where he discharged with fidelity and to the general acceptance the trusts confided to him by his fellow-citizens. He was for many years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and aided in sustaining the institutions of the church and of religious and benevolent institutions generally, by personal effort and liberal pecuniary contributions. By his will he bequeathed to the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions and the Theological Seminary about fifteen thousand dollars, and sums of considerable amounts to other benevolent institutions. Mr. Hungerford during his life-time was a man of force and deep moral convictions, enjoying the high confidence and esteem of a wide range of acquaintances. He left no children to inherit the estates accumulated through a successful career; but has devoted the sum total of his life’s work as a heritage of philanthropy and the perpetuation of moral and religious institutions.